Virginia Tech looks to get well; Clemson guards against letdown

Published: Friday, September 6, 2013 at 04:33 PM.

One week after losing to No. 1 Alabama, the two-time defending national champions, the Hokies will welcome Western Carolina to Blacksburg on Saturday.

“This week's about us,” offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said.

Virginia Tech played stout defense and ran the ball well against the Crimson Tide, but struggles in the passing game and on special teams gave them no chance in their 35-10 loss. Alabama scored on a punt return, a kickoff return and an interception return, the first time that trifecta has ever happened to a Frank Beamer-coached team. Offensively, quarterback Logan Thomas’ numbers were abysmal: 5 for 26 for 59 yards.

But it wasn't all on Thomas; receivers dropped nearly twice as many balls as they caught.

“The pass game is a combination of a lot of things,” Loeffler said this week. “It's a combination of protection. It's a combination of receivers being at the proper splits, proper depth. And we need to improve in that area immensely. And there were some things Logan did excellent in that game.”

He also missed a few plays where he should have thrown the ball elsewhere, Loeffler said.

One week after losing to No. 1 Alabama, the two-time defending national champions, the Hokies will welcome Western Carolina to Blacksburg on Saturday.

“This week's about us,” offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said.

Virginia Tech played stout defense and ran the ball well against the Crimson Tide, but struggles in the passing game and on special teams gave them no chance in their 35-10 loss. Alabama scored on a punt return, a kickoff return and an interception return, the first time that trifecta has ever happened to a Frank Beamer-coached team. Offensively, quarterback Logan Thomas’ numbers were abysmal: 5 for 26 for 59 yards.

But it wasn't all on Thomas; receivers dropped nearly twice as many balls as they caught.

“The pass game is a combination of a lot of things,” Loeffler said this week. “It's a combination of protection. It's a combination of receivers being at the proper splits, proper depth. And we need to improve in that area immensely. And there were some things Logan did excellent in that game.”

He also missed a few plays where he should have thrown the ball elsewhere, Loeffler said.

“We've got to get the wide receivers, the running backs, tight ends and Logan all tied together,” Loeffler, in his first season with the Hokies, said. “And the fact of the matter is that failed Saturday.”

The Catamounts (0-1), of the Southern Conference, know that feeling all too well. Their 45-24 loss to Middle Tennessee State on Aug. 29 was their 11th straight overall since their opener in 2012. Against Bowl Subdivision competition, they have dropped 27 in a row.

They'll arrive at Lane Stadium taking the same approach as the Hokies.

“Obviously we've got a monumental task taking this team up to Blacksburg,” coach Mark Speir said. “But our approach to it is, we can't worry about Virginia Tech — of course, we will schematically with what they do and how we best match up against them — but we're taking the approach that it's all about us, getting that consistency we need that we showed at times against Middle Tennessee, and to just continue to get better and concentrate on ourselves. We've just got to get better in all three phases.”

Here are five things to watch when Western Carolina plays at Virginia Tech:

LOGAN'S HEROES: Thomas has struggled with mechanics, but his passing numbers — and perhaps the final score — might have been different if his receivers had made routine catches against Alabama. The Hokies plan to add Charley Meyers, Joshua Stanford and maybe others to the WR rotation.

RETURN EXCITEMENT: While the Hokies allowed punt return and kickoff return touchdowns against Alabama, prompting several defensive starters to ask Beamer to be placed on the first-team coverage units, the Catamounts allowed a 57-yard punt return touchdown against Middle Tennessee State.

RUNNING CONSISTENCY: Redshirt freshman Trey Edmunds turned heads for the Hokies by running for 132 yards against Alabama, but 77 of those yards came on a touchdown run in the first quarter. On its other 58 plays from scrimmage, the Hokies totaled just 135 yards.

OUCH: The Catamounts have lost 20 of their last 21 games. Their victory against Division II Mars Hill to open last season snapped a nine-game slide, and they haven't won since.

COMMON OPPONENT: The Catamounts played Alabama in their regular season finale last year, losing 49-0. The Hokies lost 35-10 to the Crimson Tide in their season opener this year.

Swinney guarding against letdown for No. 4 Clemson

CLEMSON, S.C. (AP) — Dabo Swinney won't let No. 4 Clemson let down against FCS opponent South Carolina State, not with how far the Tigers have come in the past two seasons.

After the Tigers’ 38-35 victory over No. 11 Georgia last week, the college football world is watching to see if Clemson will do what it's done several times the past decade — stumble on the road to a bigger things.

That's not likely to happen Saturday when the Tigers (1-0) take on the Bulldogs (0-1) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Clemson is 26-0 all-time against teams of the old Division I-AA, including a 54-0 victory over South Carolina State in the teams’ only other meeting in 2008.

Yet, with Clemson's history of missteps, the questions get asked, even after the Tigers became the first non-Southeastern Conference program to post consecutive victories over top-10 opponents from the league in LSU and Georgia.

Swinney said his program has grown in every facet, including consistency to play and achieve against the best teams in the country.

“At some point, people need to recognize that these players have played at a very high level very consistently,” the coach said. “No, we haven't won them all and people aren't going to happy until you win them all. But these players have achieved a lot of things and I think they should be complemented for it. Again, I just get tired of that story line.”

The only way Clemson can rewrite its tale is to take care of business in games it's favored to win like this one. The Tigers probably won't be tested again until Oct. 19 when No. 10 Florida State comes to campus.

Swinney spent some time reminding players that several Football Bowl Championship programs like Kansas State and Oregon State have already had season's upended by losses to FCS schools.

Quarterback Tajh Boyd, who passed for three touchdowns and rushed for two others against Georgia, says Clemson has to play to standard that does not falter simply because the competition level may not be the same.

The intensity “has to be same or even that much more,” Boyd said about South Carolina State. “If you look at it and gauge games off of your opponent, then you're not becoming that consistent team you want to be.”

Five things to watch when No. 6 South Carolina hosts South Carolina State:

CLEMSON STARTERS: A season ago, Clemson starters like QB Boyd, RB Andre Ellington and WRs Sammy Watkins and DeAndre Hopkins got much of the second half off as the Tigers built up big leads. It allowed Swinney to see younger players like Ellington's backup in Rod McDowell get some experience. That paid off last week when McDowell gained 132 yards rushing against Georgia.

TIGERS’ DEFENSE: Despite registering four sacks and getting a pair of crucial turnovers, the Tigers allowed Georgia 545 yards, 222 of those coming on the ground. Count on defensive coordinator Brent Venables and his staff getting after Clemson players this week to tighten things up significantly. “It will be a very mentally challenging game as well it will be physically,” Venables said.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE'S MINDSET: The Bulldogs opened at home against Coastal Carolina and led 20-12 in the third quarter after Richard Cue's 74-yard TD pass to Tyler McDonald. Coastal rallied, though, on a TD off a blocked field goal and a 16-play, 99-yard drive for the goal ahead points in a 27-20 win. “It was a tough day that way,” Bulldogs coach Buddy Pough said. “We had several instances of guys feeling sorry for themselves. But we just have to push them through it and we should be fine by Saturday.”

FCS RESULTS: Clemson has an average victory margin of 37-7 in its 26 FCS wins. The closest contest was two years ago when Clemson trailed 24-21 in the second half before defeating Wofford 35-27 and setting off alarm bells among Tiger fans. The next three weeks, Clemson defeated defending national champion Auburn, defending ACC Atlantic champion Florida State and defending ACC champion Virginia Tech on the way to an 8-0 start and its own conference title.

SELLOUT CROWD: There were 83,830 people on hand at Death Valley last Saturday night for the Georgia game and Clemson organizers are expecting another big crowd for South Carolina State after announcing a second-straight sellout. The school says it's the first time it's sold out an FCS prior to the contest.

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